Who doesn’t love free tickets to a show? I won passes to see Owl City and Mat Kearney perform at New York’s Roseland Ballroom on June 23, 2011. Not knowing anything about either band prior to setting foot inside the venue, I will say this, neither band moved me at all, but I am easily entertained. Owl City was the main act and they are a synth-pop band. I had no idea until I got home that they play contemporary Christian Music. Well that explains the drunken emo hipsters that were standing near me! Owl City had good lighting and their songs are somewhat catchy – if not totally emo, but I think I am more of a Led Zeppelin kinda guy. I am sad that I didn’t know what style of music I was in for because I could have engaged in some great conversations during the intermission. Oh well.

Mat Kearney

I enjoyed Mat Kearney’s opening set a bit more than Owl City. His songs, though completely derivative and unoriginal were slightly more catchy to me than Owl City. His songs have that alt rock/folk sound that we’ve all heard a million times. One thing I did like was in the middle of one song, he did a freestyle rap (which kind of came out of nowhere) that included lyrics about him performing at Roseland Ballroom and the shitty weather New York had today. Again, it was certainly not the worst thing I’ve ever seen because he can definitely sing and his band sounded good. I completely see why his music could be popular – because the masses are drones of kids who don’t know any better and haven’t discovered “the classics” yet. Final analysis: glad I went for free.